Peter Paul Bevacqua (born 1971) is an American sports and media executive who is the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. He previously served as president and chairman of

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

between 2018 and 2023. Before joining NBC Sports, Bevacqua served as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Professional Golfers' Association of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of professional golfer, golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to est ...

from 2012 until 2018.

Early life

Bevacqua grew up in Bedford, New York. He began playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

at a young age with his father, Arthur Bevacqua, a dentist. He attended

Brunswick School Brunswick School is a private, college-preparatory school for boys in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1902 by George B. Carmichael. History Brunswick School was founded in 1902 by George B. Carmichael. The school is ...

in nearby

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

where he was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

, senior class president and an all-league player in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and golf. He began caddying at the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club at age 10, training under head pro Walt Ronan, and continued to work summers there as a caddie and pro shop manager while attending the

. He was also a walk-on punter for head football coach

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former college football coach and television analyst. He served as the head football coach at the College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the N ...

at Notre Dame, where he graduated ''magna cum laude'' with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in English in 1993. He then earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, graduating ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1997.

Professional career

Bevacqua began his professional career as a legal associate at Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

before joining the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rule ...

(USGA) in 2001. He first served as the USGA's in-house counsel for two years. He was then promoted to USGA's first-ever managing director of the

U.S. Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

. In 2009, Bevacqua was appointed as the USGA's

chief business officer Chief business officer (CBO) is the position of the top operating executive of growing commercial companies or an academic/research institution (such as a university, college, institute, or teaching hospital). In the commercial space, CBO shows l ...

. Bevacqua left USGA for

CAA Sports Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

three years later, in 2012, where he served as Global Head of Golf. He was appointed as the CEO of the PGA in fall 2012. He subsequently signed to two contract extensions, one in November 2013 and another in November 2017, which was due to carry him through 2024. In October 2013, Bevacqua successfully negotiated a 15-year

media rights Broadcasting rights (often also called media rights) are rights which a broadcasting organization negotiates with a commercial concern - such as a sports governing body or film distributor - in order to show that company's products on television o ...

extension through 2030 with NBC Sports for the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

and PGA Professional Championship. In 2014, the PGA designed and implemented a long-term strategic plan that focused on two main goals: to better serve PGA members and to increase public interest in golf. Alan Shipnuck of Golf.com described Bevacqua's vision as, "... growing the game to create more opportunities for PGA pros, embracing new technology to make the membership more relevant, and improving communication with the national headquarters to make the pros feel more valued". Bevacqua was appointed as the World Golf Foundation Board of Directors' Chairman in 2015. In that role he helped the

International Golf Federation The International Golf Federation (IGF) was founded on 2 May 1958 and is the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the world governing body for golf. The IGF has two membership categories representing ...

reinstate golf in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, beginning with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In August 2017, Bevacqua announced that, beginning in 2019, the PGA Championship would be conducted annually in May for the first time in 70 years. Comcast NBCUniversal promoted Bevacqua to chairman, NBC Sports in September 2020. He was

' third chairman. He oversaw NBC Sports’ collection of assets and platforms including NBC Sports,

NBC Olympics ''NBC Olympics'' is the commercial name for the NBC Sports-produced broadcasts of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as shown in the United States on NBCUniversal platforms. They include the NBC broadcast network and many of the company's cabl ...

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ba ...

NBC Sports Regional Networks NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...

NBC Sports Digital NBC Sports Group is a division of NBCUniversal Media Group that is responsible for NBC Sports' media properties, encompassing the NBC television network's sports division as well as day-to-day operation of the company's sports-oriented cable netw ...

, and two transactional sports businesses,

GolfNow GolfNow is an online booking service for tee times at golf courses. Originally established in 2001 by Cypress Golf Solutions in Scottsdale, Arizona, US, it was acquired by Comcast via its Golf Channel unit in March 2008. Since Comcast's purchase ...

and SportsEngine. In June 2023, Notre Dame president Fr. John I. Jenkins announced that Bevacqua would replace Jack Swarbrick as athletic director in early 2024. Bevacqua served as a special assistant to the president for athletics before officially taking over on March 25. A former SportsBusiness Journal “Forty Under 40” Award recipient in 2009, Bevacqua was honored with the prestigious “Sports Leadership Award” by the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

in November 2016. He is a board member of RISE, an alliance of sports organizations that promotes racial equality. Bevacqua is also on the board of directors of

in Greenwich, CT Bevacqua is a Member of the Board of Visitors with the

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

Personal life

Bevacqua and his wife, Tiffany, have one daughter and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevacqua, Pete Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletic directors American sports executives and administrators Davis Polk & Wardwell lawyers University of Notre Dame alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni People from Bedford, New York 1971 births Living people